Why it works: Chive and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 245 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Potato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the cooked potatoes into thin slices and place them in a salad bowl.
Dress and serve
Mix in the vinegar, salad oil, chives, parsley, capers, salt, and pepper.
Gently combine to incorporate the seasoning without breaking the potatoes.
Dish up and serve.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Chive + caperstop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together245 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Parsley + caperstop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,550 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + chivetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together611 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Chive + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,150 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked potatoes
- Form the body of the salad, absorbing the dressing as it is combined.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.
- Salad oil
- Carries fat and flavour through the potatoes, giving a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
- Capers
- Contribute a sharp, briny note that stands out against the mild potatoes.
The step that matters
Gently combine to incorporate the seasoning without breaking the potatoes. Thin potato slices are fragile. Vigorous stirring breaks them into mush and releases starch, which makes the salad pasty. Gentle folding keeps the slices intact while the dressing coats them evenly.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, chive, parsley, capers, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Kalefits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, chive, parsley, capers, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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